12 year old astrophysics prodigy
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110329/ts_yblog_thelookout/for-12-year-old-astrophysics-prodigy-the-skys-the-limit
It baffles my mind when youngin's like this are so ? smart.
In some ways, Jacob Barnett is just like any other 12-year-old kid. He plays Guitar Hero, shoots hoops with his friends, and has a platonic girlfriend.
But in other ways, he's a little different. Jake, who has an IQ of 170, began solving 5,000-piece jigsaw puzzles at the age of 3, not long after he'd been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism. A few years later, he taught himself calculus, algebra, and geometry in two weeks. By 8, he had left high school, and is currently taking college-level advanced astrophysics classes—while tutoring his older classmates. And he's being recruited for a paid researcher job by Indiana University.
Now, he's at work on a theory that challenges the Big Bang—the prevailing explanation among scientists for how the universe came about. It's not clear how developed it is, but experts say he's asking the right questions.
"The theory that he's working on involves several of the toughest problems in astrophysics and theoretical physics," Scott Tremaine of Princeton University's Institute for Advanced Studies—where Einstein (pictured) himself worked—wrote in an email to Jake's family. "Anyone who solves these will be in line for a Nobel Prize."
Here you can watch Jake question some of the key elements of Albert Einstein's theories on quantum physics:
(VIDEO, INSIDE LINK)
It's not clear where Jake got his gifts from. "Whenever I try talking about math with anyone in my family," he told the Indianapolis Star, "they just stare blankly."
But his parents encouraged his interests from the start. Once, they took him to the planetarium at Butler University. "We were in the crowd, just sitting, listening to this guy ask the crowd if anyone knew why the moons going around Mars were potato-shaped and not round," Jake's mother, Kristine Barnett, told the Star. "Jacob raised his hand and said, 'Excuse me, but what are the sizes of the moons around Mars?' "
After the lecturer answered, said Kristine, "Jacob looked at him and said the gravity of the planet ... is so large that (the moon's) gravity would not be able to pull it into a round shape."
"That entire building ... everyone was just looking at him, like, 'Who is this 3-year-old?'"
It baffles my mind when youngin's like this are so ? smart.
Comments
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i read about this earlier today
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very impressive
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It's always interesting to me how people with Autism and other conditions can be savants and geniuses like this. They lack severely in some areas but make up for it monumentally in other areas. This kid is different than that though because he's got Asperger's but doesn't seem to have any of the negative traits of the disease being that he's a pretty social kid. Imagine, if everyone was like that. It would be like the next step in evolution for humanity.
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good thread
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maybe he can do something with alternative fuels too.
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How come there aren't any ? children that are prodigies or National Spelling Bee champions, or major science fair winners?
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Maximus Rex wrote: »How come there aren't any ? children that are prodigies or National Spelling Bee, or major science fair winners?
there out there man... -
Damn, they roasting this ? on this other message board.
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bankrupt baller wrote: »cause they are stupid ?
Not really, they had an issue with what he was saying about Einsteins theory. I'm not smart enough to even comment on that, so I didn't have an opinion. -
Give it some time. His white ass will be in a lab somewhere developing bombs to drop on brown people.
Little evil bastard. -
i hope this kid doesnt start hearing voices like a beautiful mind or his brain doesnt collapse on itself like Travolta in Phenomenon.
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Maximus Rex wrote: »How come there aren't any ? children that are prodigies or National Spelling Bee champions, or major science fair winners?
heres a black musical prodigy on you tube.
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Thats sad. WHite kid learning about the speed of light in different densities. And this ? baby is good on a drum set.
? help us all. -
earth two superman wrote: »
Go back and re-read my question. -
Maximus Rex wrote: »Go back and re-read my question.
i barely read your questions the first time. -
Thats sad. WHite kid learning about the speed of light in different densities. And this ? baby is good on a drum set.
? help us all.
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You know how hard it is to play music and be musically inclined to do it? Grown ass adults in the world are still incapable of doin this. Music in my opinion is more important to humanity than astrophysics.Give it some time. His white ass will be in a lab somewhere developing bombs to drop on brown people.
Little evil bastard.
I agree with this though. Nothing good is coming out of this kids intellect in quantum physics as long as this world is control by capitalism. -
YOu may have a point about it being more difficult to be musically inclined since anybody who studies hard enough can get a basic grasp of physics. But even so you study hard enough you can get a grasp of an instrument also.'
You know how hard it is to play music and be musically inclined to do it? Grown ass adults in the world are still incapable of doin this. Music in my opinion is more important to humanity than astrophysics.
I agree with this though. Nothing good is coming out of this kids intellect in quantum physics as long as this world is control by capitalism.
I guess its all a matter of perception. So I wont argue with you.Both are important. But one is only good for a band the other can be good for a while country and the world. -
Maximus Rex wrote: »How come there aren't any ? children that are prodigies or National Spelling Bee champions, or major science fair winners?
There are. When I was younger there was a kid that went to my church that went to college at 9.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GanMDOfzRrM